Who’s the hottest star in recorded music? Michael Jackson has sold 31 million albums since his death. And now Sony has a $200 million deal to bring out ten more albums‘ worth of material, some of it unreleased recordings, some of it new versions of old songs. Wow. And I thought Yoko Ono had a lot of leftover material to deal with.

The whole MJ phenomenon is best encapsulated by that video wherein a colossal statue of Jacko is unveiled (wearing quasi-military garb, of course) and the men, women, and children in the vicinity weep and genuflect as they are overwhelmed by the awesomeness of MJ. It was the scariest example of hero-worship and overblown ego that I have ever seen attributed to a pop star. Make no mistake: MJ was as convinced of his own wonderfulness and messianic qualities as is our current president. The music, though (and isn’t it supposed to be about the music), was never that great. Oh, there are some exceptions–“Billie Jean” has a killer groove–but on the whole, his oeuvre was a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing. I am a musician, and I don’t know anyone who really cares about music that gives a fig about Michael Jackson’s music.